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The History of~The Cold War (Part 8: The Thawing Begins)
As we left off from our last page (click here) we talked about the inner problems the USA and the USSR faced. Remember from the last part that it was mentioned that the USA had the luck and leisure to assess and fix all of their problems, the USSR, however, was not and as the 1980s went on, things for the USSR would begin to unravel. But how did they? That is what Part 8 of this series will try to cover. After Breshnev died in 1982, there was a significant power vacuum in the USSR as the Premiers after Breshnev (Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Cherdenko) also died not too long after. In 1985, one man took the Soviet leadership, his name was "Mikhail Gorbachev". Unlike the Soviet Premiers before him, he wanted to change Soviet policy and improve relations with the west such as more "Openness and Transparency", and having the right to criticize the government. Even allowing some "Capitalist" things into the USSR (like McDonald's). East German Exodus What this also does is bring a brand new sense of independence among the USSR's Warsaw Pact members. The "Iron Curtain' had a hole ripped into it by the mid-1980s. The hole was at the Austrian-Hungarian border. Some East Germans received word of this, and because of this, the East German people were trying to find a way to escape to the West, this is when East Germans would travel to Hungary. Then, the East Germans crossed the border into Austria and thus escaped from the Communist East. But, the General Secretary of East Germany Erich Honecker (a hard-line Soviet) was none too pleased about this and banned travel into Hungary. But this did *not* stop the East Germans. They would instead flee to Prague where many east germans attempted to scale the fence of the West German Embassy. The Diplomat there had set up a temporary refugee camp around the Embassy. By September 1989, the West German Diplomat allowed the East German Refugees to flee to West Germany by train. Tensions would soon grow as did protests against Honecker and the East German Politburo. Honecker even attempted putting down the protests with the Secret Police, but the Police mutinied against him. But, more things were happening. Much like what happened 30 years ago, but with the USSR in a weakened state. Warsaw Pact Revolutions In 1989, there would be a small revolution in Poland. But they were resolved, and in June Poland would hold the first free elections in the nation's history as anti-soviet solidarity won the majority of seats in the new Polish Government. Then, the Prime Minister of Hungary went to Moscow to tell Gorbie about the reforms going on in the Hungarian Government. Though Gorbie didn't personally agree with this but allowed Hungary to proceed anyway. So, Hungary would also hold free elections in October. In November of 1989, Czechoslovakia also saw a revolution that lasted for over a month. It ended with no casualties and the communist government in Czechoslovakia would dissolve. Things aren't looking up for the USSR, huh? In December (still in 1989) Romanian citizens have revolted against their government a la Hungary in 1956. But unlike Hungary, Romania was successful in kicking out the Soviets in their country (as the USSR is weaker than it was in 1956. The revolution lasted until Christmas Day and ended with a bit over 1,000 people dead. Fall of the Berlin Wall Woah, wait a minute. Aren't we forgetting something? Yes, the Berlin Wall of course. Pressure in East Berlin was reaching the boiling point, and the new East German Government would also announce the left of the ban on the travel from East Germany and West Germany. But the announcement wasn't going to made until November 10. But Millions of East Berliners (obviously) couldn't wait that long and all lined up towards the wall, and the guards were still under orders to shoot anybody on sight. But the crowd that gathered at the wall was too much for the Guards to handle. But as the bans were lifted, and people crossed the barriers. Some even climbed the wall, and then it happened. Thousands of Berlin's citizens from both sides were then making attempts to destroy the wall (on the advice of Ronald Reagan). On November 9, 1989, after nearly 3 decades of entrapment. The German Capital was finally reunited, and the Berlin Wall has been brought down. The snow is melting, it looks like this Cold War is finally warming up. The Fall of The Berlin Wall was an extremely sobering event as it's a sign of loosening tensions between the West and the East (as well as the USA and the USSR). But the Cold War isn't over just yet, as the crises in the USSR continue and worsen, it would meet with an unthinkable fate. For that, we'll wait for the final part of this wiki page series. You can click here to continue reading. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.